hypnosis & other curiosities

I'm struck by the fascination we have with hypnosis and the subconscious. Do you know how many movies in the last 20 years have had some sort of hypnosis link in them?  Plenty.  And even "street" magicians mixing up stage hypnosis into their acts in Vegas (this one had a TV show for a while).

Stage hypnosis is how most people are introduced to hypnosis:  a show in Vegas or a night club act somewhere else. That's why when most people consult a hypnotist the first time they're quite concerned that we "don't make me cluck like a chicken."

It's no wonder. We've had images of Dracula burned into our psyche --- Dracula who could hypnotize his victims. We've seen movies where the plot unfolds with an amnesia victim undergoing hypnosis to try and sort out who she is, we've had movies show us how hypnosis unlocks our mind so we can see scary dead people, and we've seen movies where hypnosis is used to help Sybil and her 17 personalties become whole again. Mostly whole, anyway.

So why are we so fascinated by it?  I have several theories about that, including storytelling sitting around campfires after a long day. Hypnosis is part of who we are as people. Its roots go back to Ancient Egypt, the first medicine people, and even Edgar Cayce was touched by hypnosis. A hypnotist helped cure Cayce of a throat affliction, and it was during that session that Cacyce's healing persona emerged. I bet you didn't know that, did ya? :)

We are so fascinated by hypnosis because it is US. It is a part of us and at the same time so alien to us to think we have some powerful force inside us that we have no control over. Or little control over. Actually, we *can* shape it and work with it and understand it. And if we don't work with it, then it controls us and we run around blindly reacting to things and wondering why. Or wondering why we can't stop some things.

Anyway, hypnosis has been accepted by the AMA (American Medical Association) since 1958 as effective treatment for some problems (stopping smoking). It is still recognized as the ONLY effective treatment for multiple personalities (or dissociated personalties if you prefer the newer terminology), and more and more clinical (double-blind) studies are documenting its efficacy for a number of problems, including controlling chronic pain, helping with cancer, reducing stress, and a number of other chronic problems. Did you know that before our modern chemical anesthesias were developed, that hypnosis was used instead? Yea, it is scary isn't it!

I think part of why it fascinates us (it certainly has fascinated me since the mid 70s) is because it seems "mysterious" and it has ties to ancient worlds and ancient times, and yes magical times and magical ties. For so long it was so jealously guarded by so many in power. And now, Anyone can learn it. Of course, that doesn't mean everyone is good at it (Freud certainly wasn't), but you can learn it.

I am often reminded during sessions that not everything in this world has been categorized and explained and cataloged and dissected to death. There is still mystery and wonder and beauty. And most hypnotists will tell you that after they had been practicing for a while, sometimes when they open their mouths---they have no idea where what is coming out is coming from. Technically, this is called an "up-trance" for the hypnotist---meaning that when we work with a client, we also go into a type of trance while working with you. And we do. And where do the words come from if we're not consciously pulling them out? Our subconscious? Possibly. A higher place? Probably.  And you can follow that train of thought wherever it leads you....